


1+1

by moroder



Series: Of Broken Hearts and Fallen Stars [1]
Category: Beholder (Video Game)
Genre: Drama, Fix-It of Sorts, Half of Fic is Describing What Happened In Game, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22291699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moroder/pseuds/moroder
Summary: Carl gives a suggestion for Alloisius to discuss his problems with someone who had also suffered from similar affairs. Just in time, as it turns out.
Relationships: Alloisius Shpak/Bastian Walner
Series: Of Broken Hearts and Fallen Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631920
Kudos: 2





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**Author's Note:**

> beholder deserves more fan stuff guys

“How did you meet your wife, Carl? I mean, when she wasn’t your wife yet. You must’ve done something extraordinary to get the attention of such a gorgeous woman!”

Stein sighed and put his mug aside. He knew exactly where this talk was going, and he knew Alloisius Shpak very well, so he braced himself for worst.

“It was in the university. We studied by the same program.”

“Oh, so you conquered her heart with your academic progress?”

“Not really, I wasn’t a brilliant student…”

“Do not diminish your success, Carl! I’m sure you were just as good at studying as me.” The surgeon took a sip of coffee, winced and put the cup on his dish. “And I can surely answer for myself.”

“Either way, we met at the end of studying. It just sort of happened that we got along, and now we’re here… at this stage of life.” Carl shrugged. Alloisius took that as a sign that interrupting him wouldn’t be impolite now.

“That means it was a meeting of fate?”

“Well, I don’t…”

“That’s so fatalistic! Imagine, Carl, the universe has it all appointed for you, just live along and watch it pass by. What a simple procedure!”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but fate only helped us with studying at the same faculty,” Stein objected, slightly irritated. “If we didn’t hold onto each other after that, we’d part our ways as soon as we’ve met.”

“Oh, so that’s it…”

Lighting up about fate before, Alloisius seemingly lost heart and the glow of interest died away in his eyes. Carl felt awkward by cutting him off, so he decided the best thing is to flee.

“Sorry, I have… some new tenants’ papers to fill in,” he mumbled and ran away, leaving his neighbor alone in the kitchen. He wasn’t lying about paperwork – there were some reports waiting to be completed, and the Ministry always kept him in fear of missing an important phone call. Nevertheless, escaping talks about romantic relationship was more important at that moment.

The cardiac surgeon named Alloisius Shpak moved into Stein’s supervision thirty-eight days ago. After pretty much their first conversation, he gave out a very important detail of his personal life: he struggled to find himself a wife. For some reason, he considered Carl to be a professional in that matter (although Shpak hasn’t yet seen the way Anna could cut you down with a look) and entrusted him with a personal request to help him find a soulmate.

Carl was busy enough without his lonely tenants, but he agreed to help just out of his good will. He regretted that soon after, as some frivolous woman played a joke on the naive surgeon, and Carl had to evict her in a hurry before the Ministry pressed on him. This story didn’t seem to teach Alloisius any lesson, as literally one week later he began lamenting again. With a deep breath, Carl delved deeper into the papers and found out that some of the tenants had a niece, a lovely and beautiful woman. Better than those who leave their phone number anywhere to find!

Later, as the ambulance rushed Alloisius to the hospital, barely alive after drinking a cup of coffee, Stein regretted his decision to bring Sarah Wattermach to the house. It was no doubt that this woman, pretending to be Sarah, has fooled another gullible man and tried to get rid of him, just like other cases; Carl had already discovered poison in their room that wasn’t there before she moved in, so it wasn’t hard to make up a report to arrest her. Alloisius’ naivety remained a problem though, along with his newly gained loneliness, a lot more painful this time for sure.

After having recovered a bit, Dr. Shpak returned to Krushvice, 6 – pale, divorced, but alive, at least still alive. Carl sighed with relief, partially because he’d have to give his room to someone else soon, as the rules stated. Well, and though he reluctantly admitted that, he missed the man along with the tenants who dropped a word about him every once in a while. Alloisius returned to his room number two, and two screens responsible for cameras installed there have come alive. Before he returned, they only showed a static picture of an open drawer and a table with a book.

Although his physical health problems retreated, the doctor’s mental health was still in bad shape. His neighbors observed him becoming antisocial and inclined to stay inside, showing up in public places mostly when no one else was around, save for Martha. As someone joked about past mistakes and troubles dropping a shadow so the light of future could shine brighter, he tried to smile politely in response, but failed miserably. Sure thing, Carl was most aware of Alloisius’ contidion, watching him walking around his room on the screens, then sitting down at a chair and staring at the wall for a long time, then pacing around again. He was also the only person who saw him having sleeping troubles, staring at the ceiling half the night.

That’s why Carl didn’t want to hold conversations with Shpak. He already brought disorder and stress into his life with his good intentions, and he couldn’t come up with anything else to help him so that it wouldn’t make everything worse.

* * *

Alloisius became more talkative when Bastian Walner and his wife Clara moved in. That one Clara that Carl evicted with such stress and now had to put up with her being in the building again. Alloisius seemed to still have some good memories regarding her, because he started to talk about relationships more often, although previous interactions had his wings clipped in such a violent manner. He didn’t seem to have any hope left, but his musings sounded like his whole life was still ahead of him, as if he hadn’t already lived through almost half a century. Stein thought sadly that it was true, and Shpak was still a decent man… but how does one convince him?

“Carl, do you think it’s… a popular problem? Our comrades’ loneliness in this country, I mean.”

“It’s strongly advised to have a family by national standards,” Stein responded, putting the kettle on. “Our children are the future of country.”

“I understand. But there’s little to none of my colleagues who willingly want to have a family. Even to get married!”

“Your colleagues are all men of science. They’re occupied in fields of medicine, not romance…” He thought he might’ve said something reckless, but his companion didn’t mind. “Scientists aren’t usually happy in terms of marriage, as I know. Scientific work takes all their time and fuel.”

“Oh, I can add to that!” the surgeon exclaimed with a grin.

“We even have a similar case in our house. I’m sure you know him… Walner, the engineer. The one with…”

“…that woman, yes. I remember, Carl.”

“Anyway, he was worried about being… unworthy of his wife? He asked me to find out whether she cheats on him or not.”

“Let me guess,” Shpak began grimly, and the man nodded in response. “Sucks for him to fall for the same trap like I did. You know, it’s a good thing to discuss!”

“Ehm, with me?”

“No, with Walner!” Alloisius suddenly stood up, and Carl glanced at him with surprise. “Is he at home?”

“He must be… I was talking to him just now. Do you want to come and talk to him right now?..”

“Yes, why postpone it?”

Before Stein could disagree anyhow, the doctor was already at the stairs. Carl decided to follow him in case he does something out of ordinary. As he walked two flights up, Alloisius was already at the third room door, waiting.

“I just knocked,” he explained. “No response, no sound.”

Carl moved him aside and peeked into the keyhole. What he saw made him recoil, yank the keys off his belt and open the door hastily; he was lucky that the first key he picked was the right one. Alloisius was surprised by his reaction but braced himself for worst just in case.

Not in vain. The first thing he had to do in room number three was to grab a middle-sized man and hold him so that he wouldn’t choke to death on the rope.

“Carl! Cut it down!” he yelled, trying to get a better hold; judging by Walner’s movements, he was still alive. Stein jumped around the room trying to find at least something sharp enough, and finally he got lucky to find a bottle and break it against a wall.

They took the hangman out of the rope and sit him down on the bed. He wasn’t seeing clearly, and Alloisius brought him to his senses using an open ammonia vial.

“What… is… am I already in heaven?”

“Suicides don’t go to heaven,” Carl remarked. “Just what are you doing, Walner?”

“I… why do I have to… explain myself to you? It’s my life and I have complete control over it. If my choice is to die, then respect it… I’ve got nothing left after what she did anyway.”

“I don’t understand. You tried to take your life… because of that woman?” The doctor’s voice sounded unbelieving, making Bastian outraged.

“She’s not just ‘that woman'! I loved her more than anything, and she… she played such a horrible trick on me… and my job…”

“Yeah, we can see you loved her more than your life,” Stein sighed, stepping back. His words broke the last bit of the engineer’s self-possession; his shoulders shuddered, he whimpered and hurried to cover his face. Alloisius sat by his side and grabbed his shoulders, which brought no soothing effect, as Walner burst into tears, face tucked into the man’s shoulder.

“I guess you’ve got a great deal to talk about now,” Carl spoke softly, meeting Shpak’s gaze. “Could you please keep him from committing suicide for a little longer? I’ll be back soon and I can’t leave him alone in this state…”

“No worries, Carl, I’ll stay with the poor man,” he said heroically. “All doctors are masters of soothing! You won’t see a trace of suicidal thoughts in him when you come back.”

Although reluctant to believe that, Carl didn’t argue and went to the exit. Stepping outside, he still heard Alloisius’ voice from the farther room.

“Come on now, old fellow. No one is in their right to inflict a choice between life and death for you. Even if it’s our dear ones! I was also caught in a tragic situation, too bad I hadn’t figured it out earlier, but I was able to handle it! You know – your name’s Bastian, right? You know, Bastian, it’s important not to lose hope when you think your life is over…”

* * *

About a month had passed since the evening Carl saw Bastian Walner in a rope through a keyhole. That evening saved three of them – it spared Alloisius from sadness and solitude, Carl from having to flee to his den at the first signs of women topics, and it sure as hell saved Bastian from dying.

The idea of introducing Shpak to someone who also suffered from dishonesty of his dear one was extremely successful. They managed to not only find similar interests but also some points of disagreement and spent sleepless nights arguing over them. Scientists! Carl wasn't really digging deep into their conversations, but he also couldn’t just leave the screens. What if the cameras film something important?

He sat at his usual place, filling someone’s characteristic again, when something made him stop. He saw the third room screens in a corner of his eye; usually Shpak and Walner would be doing something mind occupying.

However, this time… _wait, were they…_

Stein’s eyes became round with shock, he put the papers aside and moved closer. If his vision didn’t fail him, he was witnessing something he didn’t quite expect. And the thing he hated most was that he had no idea what he should do.

Okay, he told himself. First things first. Watching your tenants’ personal life was normal, it was your job. Nothing was personal in this country anymore. A better question was how these two, being monitored by Carl and his cameras, managed to hide the fact that they…

Was I negligent? Perhaps I was. But the Ministry will only find out and fine me if someone rats on this. Or if I do it myself.

Carl’s left hand reached out for a blank piece of paper. He glanced at the list of prohibitions for today; it was too long and consisted of several pages, and somewhere at the bottom, there was an amendment, one of the first ones issued. The amendment prohibiting same sex relationship.

_Alloisius Shpak, you have violated rule number blah blah and I will have to report you to the Ministry, leave this amount of money…_

He froze.

Sometimes Carl happened to gain additional income by indecent methods – exclusively if in dire need. They were always in need though; the bills, Martha’s weak health, the TV broke again… In some cases, Stein could write blackmail letters to most unpleasant tenants with almost no remorse. However, this time he just couldn’t bring himself to finish the letter. A couple of months ago, Alloisius helped him retrieve a foreign medicine for Martha; although it costed a fortune, it was still cheaper comparing to other possible solutions. Carl couldn’t make himself blackmail the man.

He took the page out of his typewriter, blacked out the name and room number, wrote _Bastian Walner_ by hand and put the paper back in. Must have made it easier to finish the text. However, as Carl raised his hands to continue typing, their conversation with Bastian popped up in his head – the one they had just before Stein and Shpak found him hung in his room. _You’re the only trustworthy person in this goddamn house._

Stein clenched his teeth and pounded the table with a fist; the desk lamp let out an electric sound. He looked up at the third room screen again and turned away at once, blushing. Better not look at all.

Fine. Videotapes can be destroyed. He can remove one of two cameras from room number three – the one installed in bedroom. Blackmail letters can be shoved up the… faraway places. But it won’t solve the problem, Carl thought stubbornly, staring at his knees.

* * *

“Carl! Have a spare minute for me?”

He was coming back from the mailbox as his second room tenant called on him. He looked pretty content and satisfied with life – just like he did throughout this whole month.

“Carl, I wanted to thank you for invaluable favor you did me… us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that…” Alloisius looked around and lowered his voice. “A while ago, you told me to have a talk with Walner as someone with roughly the same problem. It’s really affected us… both. In a good way.”

“Really.”

“Yes! I must say I even feel like my life finally has a meaning… something I haven’t seen clearly before.”

“No way.”

“I know, Carl, I know! You have no idea how grateful we are to you.”

“No need to thank me.”

“No-no, you’ve deserved that. Wait a minute, I’ll be right back… where’s that envelope…”

Alloisius disappeared in his room, loudly trying to remember where he left the object. Carl watched him searching around behind the doorstep and reflected lazily on the question whether the doctor ever thought his household to know a lot more about his personal life than society did. Yes, a lot of things were prohibited by law in their country, a lot more things became illegal each day…

But denying a man his happiness – the worst of crimes – that was out of Carl’s league.


End file.
